Perry school children showed respectful interest when Nathan Hoffman, a member of Perry’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2060, came to their classrooms last week to explain to them the meaning of Veterans Day.
Hoffman was one of several local VFW members who visited the Perry Elementary School and Perry Middle School last week in order to prepare area youngsters for Veterans Day ceremonies Friday, Nov. 11.
The U.S. holiday called Veterans Day, which honors all U.S. veterans, was first celebrated in 1954, Hoffman said. It was previously called Armistice Day and was first celebrated in 1919 in honor of World War I veterans.
The national holiday originally marked the anniversary of the end of World War I, which formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day. Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday in May, honor all Americans who died while in the military service.
Addressing his fellow Americans on the first Armistice Day in 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson said, “The war showed us the strength of great nations acting together for high purposes, and the victory of arms foretells the enduring conquests which can be made in peace when nations act justly and in furtherance of the common interests of men. To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.”
